Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
by actionpotential
Summary: "Why are you surprised? You must have known this could only end badly". She was right but how could something so wonderful make you so unhappy as well?
1. Chapter 1 - Take Me Home

**A/N:** This is the first time I've posted a story so please feel free to comment if I've made any mistakes.

The song mentioned in the beginning is **"Broken Brights" by Angus Stone**. The chapter title is a line taken from the song.

You can listen to it when you read this, it fits the mood and is a lovely song.

* * *

"Take me home

Where them broken brights

Are shining down

Make me feel alright"

Marley Rose quickly slipped on her blue jacket and walked out of McKinley High, after taking a few books out of her locker. She looked up at the dark starless sky, snow had started to fall again, the air was cold and she clung to the straps of her backpack. School had finished and she was making her way over to the snow-covered street leading to her house. Not wanting her mom to have to wait for her, Marley had said on the days she had glee club after school she would walk home. After some persuading (and some singing), her mother had reluctantly agreed. However now that she was standing in the wintry cold street with only a thin jacket on, she wasn't so sure this was such a great idea. Kicking herself for not thinking about bringing more layers, she struggled to continue walking down the street and after a few attempts her body just froze in place.

_C'mon Marley don't just stand here like an idiot, _she said to herself, brushing a strand of brown hair off her face. She moved her hands up and down her arm, trying to keep herself warm.

Before she could attempt to start walking again she heard a loud honk, apparently it was the shock she needed to get her body to start moving again. She swiftly turned around to face the sound and saw Kitty looking at her from inside her car.

"Did you lose a bet or something?" Kitty said with her signature smirk plastered on her face.

_Oh great, of course Kitty was here_, she thought as she rolled her eyes.

"Well if you must know, Kitty, I was-" she started but was rudely cut off by the Cheerio,

"Whatever, just get in," Kitty said, a bored look on her face.

"You want to give me a ride?" Marley asked, a frown creeping onto her face. She was faintly confused and suspicious about Kitty's probably-less-than-ideal motive behind the offer.

"Wasn't that fairly obvious?" Kitty replied, looking a bit annoyed.

"Um ok.. thanks," Marley smiled. She was still slightly suspicious but after weighing her options she thought it was better than being found frozen to the sidewalk the next day.

She walked over to the passenger side of the car, opened the door and stepped inside. She was instantly hit with a wave of warm air and quickly sat down and closed the door. _Car. So. Warm. Can't. Think. _She leaned forward towards the heater with a silly smile on her face.

"What? You've never been in a car before?" Kitty scoffed at Marley.

Marley, who wasn't even paying attention because of the warmth that was spreading through her body, faced Kitty and smiled gratefully. Kitty just rolled her eyes.

"Seatbelt," she said, gesturing to the seatbelt next to Marley and lightly pushing her back towards the seat.

Marley, finally snapping back to reality, sat back against her seat and put on the seatbelt. She turned towards Kitty,

"Thank you Kitty," she said sincerely.

"Whatever," Kitty replied facing straight ahead at the road and turning the heat up.

After telling Kitty where she lived, they had hardly spoken to one another during the drive, except for Marley occasionally pointing out a direction. Marley was finally out of her wow-heat-is-awesome haze and carefully observed the other girl for the first time since she got into her car. The blonde was wearing her winter cheerio uniform under a red hoodie and had her hair tied into her usual ponytail. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and Marley wondered why before realizing she was probably a little hot. The heat was on full blast and the Cheerio had on maybe three layers, from what Marley could tell. She reached out to lower the heat and Kitty briefly looked at her.

"So I hope you know this ride isn't free," Kitty said, a playful smile appearing on her face. Marley stared at her blankly, _sigh.. I should have known.._

"Yeah." Kitty continued, "You now owe me a favor." She looked at Marley.

"Um.. what kind of favor?" Marley asked cautiously looking into her mischievous hazel eyes.

"I'll think of something." Kitty replied with a wink. _Oh dear god, what is she planning?_ Marley thought quietly to herself.


	2. Chapter 2 - Wake Me Up

A/N: Thanks to everyone reading this story, I hope you're enjoying it.

The song mentioned in the beginning is **"Every Time You Go" by Ellie Goulding**. The chapter title is a line taken from the song.

* * *

"You said I'm arresting  
You said I had heat  
I really thought that we'd go further  
The second time we meet"

It's Friday morning and Marley cheerfully walks into the lively halls of McKinley High with a smile on her face. She heads to her locker, places a hoodie into it and takes out a few books. Blaine, Sam and Tina are laughing together and wave at her as they pass by. She closes her locker and waves back feeling very bubbly for some reason. Trailing along behind them, they head into the choir room for glee club. Marley warmly looks around at the faces of her friends, happy she has found a place in this school. She takes a seat next to Jake as he greets her and kisses her forehead.

"Ugh puke." Kitty grumbles, crinkling her nose as she walks into the choir room and sits down next to Ryder who is just above Marley and Jake.

Jake just rolls his eyes at her and starts a conversation with Ryder about sports or something like that; she wasn't really paying attention because she suddenly felt Kitty's eyes on her. Marley turns around to look at her and Kitty just stares for a few seconds before looking away. Feeling weird, Marley looks away as well but notices that the Cheerio's hair is down around her shoulders instead of in a ponytail. _She looks nice with her hair down_, she thinks before slightly blushing at the thought. Ryder seemed to notice and looked her way,

"What are you thinking about, Marley?" he laughs with a grin on his face.

"Probably me, right Marley?" Jake jokes, laughing with Ryder before resuming their previous conversation about.. uh, sports. Kitty just looks at her and suggestively raises an eyebrow. _Was it suggestively though?_ Marley wonders, she wasn't sure. She was about to take another look when Mr. Shue walks in and glee class starts.

During the class, Marley catches herself looking at Kitty, who doesn't seem to notice. _She looks really pretty today_, she thought but instantly felt guilty checking out Ryder's girlfriend. _Wait, what? I'm not checking her out.. am I? No_, she thought. _Of course not, I'm just appreciating how nice Kitty looks with her hair down and how she's out of her uniform.. _She frowns and tries to pay attention to Mr. Shue.

* * *

Glee class was over and Marley headed towards her locker where she saw Kitty impatiently waiting for her. Before she could greet the girl, Kitty hurriedly spoke,

"Rose, I hope you plan on keeping that favor you owe me." She was looking back and forth between Marley and Ryder, who was making his way towards the two girls.

"Well? C'mon hurry." Kitty said irritably as Ryder got closer.

"Y-yes. Yes, okay." Marley replied, a little confused as to why Kitty was in such a rush to get an answer out of her.

"Good. Keep that in mind when I talk to Ryder." Kitty smiled slyly.

_Oh god, what did I get myself into? I hope she-_

"Hey guys!" Ryder grinned at them then faced Kitty, "Hey so are you coming with me to.. um.. you know.. to see the dyslexia specialist?" He whispered looking embarrassed.

"As much as I would love to" Kitty started, rolling her eyes, "I need to help Marley with something".

Ryder looked at Marley who was confused until she finally understood. _Ohh so this is the favor. Should I agree to this?_

"Um yeah, Ryder." Marley stammers, deciding to go along with it. "She's helping me with my.. my.." _Fudge, what should I say?!_

"Eating disorder!" Kitty blurted out.

Marley gasped and shot Kitty a stunned look. Kitty just smirked at her but she could see a hint of regret in her hazel eyes.

"Oh, is that where you were last night?" Ryder replied.

"Yes." Kitty said simply.

"Okay, that's fine I guess." He looked sad and Marley felt horrible. "I'll see you guys later then." He kissed Kitty on the cheek and walked away.

Marley and Kitty stood in silence for a few seconds, and then Marley turned to face the Cheerio,

"Kitty! You're going to pretend to 'help me'" She said, making air quotes with her fingers, "To avoid going to Ryder's dyslexia sessions with him? That's such a horrible thing to do!"

"Oh whatever, Marley." She said, pretending not to care. "He doesn't need me there to babysit him."

Then she walked away to go join Brittany and the other Cheerios for practice, while Marley just stood there, obviously still stunned by what just happened and a little hurt Kitty would use her eating disorder as an excuse. Though Kitty did apologize to her a week ago but she wasn't sure how to take it. Marley wasn't really sure of anything when it came to Kitty. She was kind of angry but mostly she was a little sad nothing changed since the car ride last night, but it was her own fault for expecting it to. _Why would things change anyway?_ It was time for her to wake up.


	3. Chapter 3 - Breaking Over Me

A/N: Thanks again if people are still reading this.

The song mentioned in the beginning is **"Never Let Me Go" by Florence and the Machine**. The chapter title is a line taken from the song.

* * *

"Though the pressure's hard to take  
It's the only way I can escape  
It seems a heavy choice to make  
But now I am under"

The halls were empty and it was getting dark as Marley pulled her hoodie out of her locker, along with a few books. She took her backpack off, placed it on the floor and put the warm green hoodie on. Quickly fixing her hair, she put her backpack on and walked towards the front doors. Pushing open a door, she felt the cold air surround her as she stepped outside. Once again the sky was starless as she walked towards the street, she was glad for the extra warmth as it prevented her from being permanently fixed to the icy pavement like she almost was two days ago. Walking towards the street, Marley was surprised to see Kitty's car parked there with a bored-looking Kitty who appeared to be waiting for her. Marley just stood and stared, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Well are you coming?" Kitty asked. Marley sighed and got into the car, knowing that she probably didn't have a choice. Once they were on the way to Marley's house and a few minutes had passed she thought it was probably the best time to bring up what had happened the other day with Ryder.

"Um Kitty, look, whatever's going on with you and Ryder is none of my business but you shouldn't treat him like that. He- She started saying, but was yet again interrupted by the blonde.

"God Marley, are you seriously still thinking about that?" Kitty sighed wearily. "Ryder and I are basically just friends with benefits, except we aren't really even friends."

Marley could see that the Cheerio was getting pissed off and so she didn't want to push it but couldn't help adding, "Oh, well Ryder made it sounded like-"

"Enough about Ryder okay! He can take care of himself," Kitty said angrily. "And you were right, it's none of your business."

She turned her head to face Marley and Marley could see something in her eyes besides anger. _What was that? Could it be.. jealousy?_ She wasn't sure. She thought it was best to just change the subject and they ended up talking about random things like the glee club, Tina's crush on Blaine, Blaine's crush on Sam and Coach Sylvester's insane workouts, among other things. After awhile they stopped talking and just drove in a comfortable silence. Marley looked at Kitty and remembered what she had embarrassingly thought at glee club yesterday. _Was I really checking her out? _She tried to remember and was lost in thought for a few minutes before Kitty asked her,

"Weren't you wearing a blue jacket?"

"Um yeah." Marley replied, surprised at the question, "It's under this hoodie." She continued, gesturing to her hoodie.

"Well take it off." Kitty said bluntly.

"Excuse me?" Marley gasped. _Did Kitty just ask me to take my clothes off?_

"Take off the hoodie." Kitty repeated blatantly, and then added with a smirk "Its warm enough now". Marley, not quite sure what to do, slowly took her hoodie off, keeping one eye on Kitty.

"I don't really know what's happening here." Marley murmured, looking nervously at the blonde who just rolled her eyes and laughed.

"It matches your eyes.. the blue" Kitty said, looking into Marley's piercing blue eyes.

"Oh." Marley blushed, "Thanks".

"Whatever." Kitty replied, turning her head back to look straight ahead.

_Am I crazy or was Kitty just flirting with me? _Marley thought. Did Kitty even like her? _Now that I think about it, she did drive me home twice already. And she turned up the heat because I was cold, even though she was hot._ Marley laughed at herself, _wow I really am going crazy, I'm reading so much into nothing. _They reached Marley's house and Kitty stopped the car. As she leaned forward to pull the brake, a strand of blonde hair had fallen onto her face and Marley's hand twitched as she barely stopped herself from brushing it off the Cheerio's face. _What is happening with me?_ Marley thought, her eyes going wide.

"Um what is happening here?" Kitty said, with an amused smile on her face. _Oh, _Marley realized, _I must look like I'm having a stoke._

"Nothing, just thinking about.. um.. your hair." She said, mentally kicking herself for not being able to come up with a less creepy answer.

"Wh-what about my hair?" Kitty asked, her slight nervousness appearing in her voice. _Why was she nervous?_

"Nothing.. just.. it looks nice." Marley said, trying to look anywhere but at Kitty, sure that the Cheerio would definitely mock her for that awkward response.

"Marley Rose, are you flirting with me?" Kitty asked teasingly.

"What! No, Kitty I was.. sorry, I don't know-" Marley started, alarmed.

"Don't apologize, just up your game." Kitty smirked brazenly.

After Kitty had driven off, Marley just stood still and stared at her front door, deep in thought. Did she have a.. crush on Kitty? _How could that be possible_? She questioned. _Kitty drives me crazy, makes me so confused and has me questioning ever- ohh_, she realized.

_Wow, I have a crush on Kitty Wilde._


	4. Chapter 4 - We'll Do It All

A/N: Once again, thanks for reading and as suggested I've made this chapter longer.

The song mentioned in the beginning is **"Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol**. The chapter title is the first line of the song.

* * *

"If I lay here

If I just lay here

Would you lie with me

And just forget the world?"

It was another cold winter day and Marley was staring out the classroom window watching the snow fall softly over the trees, covering them in a thin blanket of white. It was her last class and her mind was someplace else, specifically thinking about a certain feisty blonde cheerleader who seemed intent on making unexpected appearances in her head. It'd been a few days since Marley's sudden realization that her feelings towards Kitty were bordering romantic to say the least, and she hadn't stopped thinking about it since. Even though the guilt over feeling this way about someone other than Jake was ever-present, sometimes she couldn't help but enjoy the feeling. When she thought about Kitty she felt excited and terrified all at the same time. Marley couldn't remember if she ever felt as strongly for Jake. She knew there were so many issues about this, _should I tell Jake? Should I tell Kitty? How would she react? Would she go back to hating me?_ _And what about Ryder?_ She knew if she said anything it would definitely cause problems (she spend the last few days thinking about exactly that), but now, staring out into the beautiful snow-covered scenery, she stopped thinking and only wanted this feeling to last a little longer.

Before long, class was over and Marley began gathering her things together. She slipped her backpack on, politely said goodbye to her teacher and walked out of the class down the hallway. Reaching her locker, she was still deep in thought as she stopped in front of it, opened the door and slowly placed a book on the shelf. Her hand lingered on it and she found herself staring straight ahead, as if she would discover the answers to all her questions hidden somewhere among her books. Shaking her head, she closed her locker and jumped when she saw someone standing next to her.

"Kitty! I didn't see you there." She said. _Even when she's not in my head, she still manages to sneak up on me._

"Well here I am." The other girl replied, running a hand through her blonde hair. She had on a pair of skinny jeans, a warm dark blue jacket and a matching scarf. Marley smiled, clearly pleased that Kitty was wearing her own clothes instead of her Cheerios uniform.

"Anyway, Ryder has another session with that bitchy dyslexia specialist so I'm with you today."

"About that, I'm not so sure-"

"Marley please." Was all she said, her face expressionless except for the hint of sadness she could see in her deep hazel eyes. Marley was a bit taken aback, the other girl was usually a lot more snarky and right now she didn't seem like herself.

"Is everything okay? You seem a little.."

"Yeah, just got a lot on my mind." She looked like she wanted to say more but stopped herself. In that moment, Jake and Ryder appeared and walked over to join them.

"Heeello ladies." Ryder grinned, his elbow on Jake's shoulder.

"Hello boys." Kitty replied, masking her earlier feelings with smirk.

"Sooooo, you coming?" Ryder asked Kitty, referring to his therapy session.

"Can't. Helping Marley out again." Kitty said, nudging Marley. "Um yeah." Marley added, glancing at Jake. _Shoot, I forgot to tell him about this. _

"Wait, since when are you two friends?" Jake questioned, glaring at Kitty.

"Since none of your fucking business." Kitty glared right back at him.

They silently glared at each other and Ryder, sensing the awkwardness, decided to change the subject. "Well we're all friends here and now that you guys have started hanging out maybe we can go on a double date or something?"

"Yeah, somehow I don't see that happening." Kitty rolled her eyes.

"Neither do I." Jake said.

"Ohhh kayy then.." Ryder said, pulling Kitty aside to talk to her alone.

"Hey so I won't ask you to come with me anymore, I know you're a bit uncomfortable. We're not that serious so it's my fault for asking you."

Kitty smiled at him sincerely and kissed him on the cheek. Ryder waved goodbye to Marley and Jake before happily walking down the hallway.

"I'll be outside." Kitty said to Marley and walked in the opposite direction towards the front doors of the school.

"So why have you started hanging out with Kitty?" Jake asked.

"Um well she dropped me home a few times and.." Marley started saying, struggling to figure out how to continue. _I could just tell him the truth,_ she considered this but eventually decided to keep it between her and Kitty. "and she's not that bad anymore, she's trying to change."

"She is that bad Marley, this is Kitty we're talking about. People like Kitty don't change." Jake frowned, failing to hide his annoyance.

"Jake she's trying to, in her own way. I know it's hard for you to understand because of the way she acts but she is. The old Kitty would never have driven me home. Besides people don't just change over night." Marley tried to explain, holding one of Jake's hands.

"Marley, she feels a little guilty now but later, after a few rides or whatever, she won't feel guilty anymore and she'll be back to her old self. Why are you defending her anyway? Have you forgotten what she did to you?" Jake replied.

"Have I forgotten? What do you think Jake? I remember every time I look in the mirror." Marley said, her anger getting the best of her.

"I-I'm sorry, you're right Marley. I shouldn't have said that." Jake hesitated, realizing he'd crossed a line. He was a bit surprised since he rarely saw the girl angry. Marley took a deep breath and after composing herself enough, she looked back at Jake.

"I'm sorry too, I know you're just worried about me but you don't have to be." She said, trying to smile at him. "I better get going now."

"I'll see you later.." Jake replied, watching her walk away.

Marley stepped outside into the cold air and began to walk towards the school car park, she thought about what Jake had said. _Is he right? I mean obviously Kitty is feeling guilty but is that the only reason she's being nice. _Marley liked to think that it wasn't all guilt and that the Cheerio genuinely wanted to be friends and maybe even enjoyed spending time with her. It was true that, besides offering to drop her home, Kitty hadn't acted any differently towards her. There were fewer insults thrown her way but even before the incident at Sectionals, Kitty had already stopped making fun of her mom and didn't insult her as much as she use to. _No_, Marley said to herself. Sure Kitty still insults her but the smile in her eyes revealed the lighthearted nature of the insult. _That's just Kitty, she doesn't know how else to respond._ Marley hoped her feelings for the blonde weren't clouding her judgment but before she could think about it anymore she had already reached Kitty's car. She walked over to the passenger side and got in.

"It's about time." Kitty said as she started up the engine. They drove in silence for a few minutes before Marley couldn't take it anymore and decided to say what she was thinking,

"You know, you don't have to keep giving me rides. I know you feel guilty but I've forgiven you and it wasn't all your fault anyway so we can just go back to being.. whatever we were before."

When Kitty didn't reply, Marley continued, "It's really okay Kitty. You don't have to keep giving me rides if you don't want to." More silence..

"Who says I don't want to?" Kitty finally replied. Marley turned her head to face the blonde who was staring straight ahead at the road. That's when Marley realized they were driving in the opposite direction of her house.

"Kitty where are we going?"

"You'll see." Kitty said, flashing Marley a mischievous smile. The same mischievous smile she recognized from the first time Kitty gave her a ride. _Great, this can't be good._

They drove for a while longer then reached what seemed like a secluded parking area near a hill. Kitty parked the car by a tree and turned off the engine.

"Where are we?" Marley asked. Kitty didn't reply, instead she got out of the car. Marley followed and asked, "What are we doing here?"

"Well aren't you just full of questions." Kitty smirked.

Kitty walked ahead of the brunette as she led her up the hill surrounded by trees, _if she wanted to kill me this would be the perfect place._ They walked for about five minutes and Marley couldn't help but watch the sway of the Cheerio's hips. Slightly embarrassed, she was glad she was partly covered by the dim moonlight. They reached a part of the hill near a cliff and Kitty proceeded to sit on the ground overlooking a field where few cars were parked.

"What are we doing here?" Marley repeated, taking a seat next to the other girl.

"Just watch."

"What am I suppose to be-"

"Shh." Kitty replied, placing a finger on Marley's lips, "Just watch." The contact had taken her by surprise but before she could react she could hear noises below.

More cars had appeared in the field, some people started greeting each other, while others started to set up what looked like lights. Marley was even more confused now and looked over at Kitty who just smiled with a knowing look on her face. After everything was set up, the people stood in the center of the field where the lights were shining. Marley began to freak out a little, _what the fudge is going on here?_ A few seconds passed before music started playing and the people in the field started to dance. Marley recognized Lady Gaga's Just Dance blasting from the speakers and it looked like they were practicing a choreographed dance. Marley was completely shocked and looked at Kitty who was laughing and singing along. She laughed as well and they continued to watch the performance.

When the music stopped playing and it looked like they were taking a break, Marley turned back to Kitty,

"Wow, oh my god.. wow." She exclaimed, still shocked.

"I know." Kitty replied, a grin on her face.

"H-how how did you even find out about this?" Marley asked. Kitty paused for a while then replied,

"I was driving around and came across this hill. When I heard music I followed it to where we're sitting down now."

"You were just driving around at night?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah." Kitty said vaguely. "Anyway, now when you're feeling.. sad or whatever, you can come here and laugh your ass off."

"I-I don't know what to say. Thank you Kitty." Marley smiled, surprised Kitty would show her this place.

"Don't look so surprised, I said I was going to help you didn't I?"

"Oh." Marley replied, she didn't think the other girl was serious before. Whatever feelings she had for Kitty, she could feel them multiplying. She looked at the blonde, who was smiling at her with her head tilted a little to the left. Kitty suddenly caught herself and her usual smirk appeared on her face.

"Whatever, I'm just surprised your guard dog let you come." She said sarcastically, standing back up and brushing some dirt off her jeans. Marley knew Kitty realized she'd let her guard down and was now trying to gain control of the situation again.

"He's just looking out for me." She replied, standing up as well.

"Is he afraid I'll get too close, Marley?" She said slyly, taking a step forward, challenging the wide-eyed girl.

Marley frowned, unsure if she should play this game that Kitty was starting. Deciding she wanted to gauge a reaction out of the Cheerio she replied,

"You won't know what to do if you got too close."

Kitty laughed, pleasantly surprised by Marley's uncharacteristically playful response.

"Oh trust me. I know what to do." She said teasingly, taking another step forward. She leaned in to whisper in Marley's ear, "You don't have to worry about that."

* * *

A/N: Hi it's me again, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I was just wondering if anyone wanted me to write a chapter from Kitty's point of view. If you do, feel free to leave a message to let me know.


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